Colombian finance minister calls for calm over oil prices

Colombia’s 2015 government budget was made assuming oil prices would not fall below $98 per barrel. However, with the oil price sitting at around $66 per barrel, the government is left with a huge monetary gap to fill.

Considering that the Colombian Ministry of Finance assessed their yearly budget, based on an oil price of $98 per gallon, the current oil price of $68 would leave the Colombian government with $6 billion less to play with than they had planned.

Despite the shocking figures, Minister of Finance Mauricio Cárdenas has called for calm, stating that the fall in crude oil prices should not affect the Colombian economy too dramatically in 2015.

Colombia Reports